Not every culture has welcomed them, these touched individuals. Nor has every page of history been kind to them. Many were considered insane, and might well have been.Still others were able to achieve positions of honor in their society, and their words and visions haunt us still today.

Whether driven to the company of the self and the quiet of lonesomeness or led there by a deeper need to see more, drink in more, draw in more from the font of Awen, the Mystic comes to the altars of solitude and kneels before them. And there, Awen may come. The relief from the suffering inflicted to drive the human there, the renewal of the Mystic's ecstasy, it is Awen which draws the Mystic on. And it is sometimes not there, for the source of inspiration is not constant, nor does the Mystic traverse always in the realms beyond, but must continue to dwell among other men. It is a powerful, intoxicating thing, the relief from torment or the enticement of ecstasy. Few are called to drink in the well of Awen who do not seek it ever after.

The Habit of Solitude

It is this search, this drive to continually dwell apart, if only for a little while, in the company of the Self and the presence of the Awen, which marks a Mystic apart from common man. Often times it is a drawing within, a retreat from the everyday pressures and demands of the world which triggers the onset of Awen. Other times it is Awen which forces the need for solitude upon the Mystic. Still others, it is a futile attempt to gain the source of inspiration or knowledge of the Mystic Otherness, a time when the Mystic cannot free the attention needed, nor be receptive.

It is because of these drives, because of the feeling that the ordinary does not suffice, that the Mystic seeks the path alone. Many who have been called to the Mystic's path have not come because of a crisis of realization which calls to the others. Some have the wherewithal to attain the proper state, to open themselves to the Mystic's universe.Some seek, but never find. And others still remain in blessed ignorance of the gift and curse that comprises the Mystic's lifetime. Yet it is to these same Mystics that much of the philosophical advancement of humanity is owed.

The Modern Mystic

It is difficult for a global society which places such an emphasis on and which owes its existence to technological advancements and scientific development to embrace the concept of the Mystical experience as a valid part of this lifetime. Yet it is telling that history outlines a continued progression of Mystics across all boundaries of politics and culture, into all times. Still these individuals continue to be born, perhaps as a function of a vestigial set of genetic codes randomly meeting as zygotes, and perhaps for reasons which transcend the known. The Awen is not yet inaccessible to the human race. Perhaps one day it will fade, or perhaps one day it will grow. Yet for now, it is enough that in every community, in every culture, and in every generation are born those who are driven to or called into the Mystic path, a path of solitude.